Video Tutorial: How to set up Membership on a single site

Hi all,

I wanted to try my hand at screencasting and that led me to my first project: a tutorial on how to set up a simple Membership site. I don't have specialized screencasting software, just iMovie, so forgive me if comes off as amateur at times. Like I said, it's my first go at this, but I think it will serve as a decent walk-through for those who like video tutorials.

This is a member contribution.

(I'm working towards a Lifetime Membership)

Please give points if this video helps you!

Video Tutorial: How to set up Membership on a single site
The test site has 3 paid membership levels and 1 free visitor level. You'll learn the basics of how Membership works, including how to create access levels, protect content and add subscription plans. I don't cover every feature of Membership in this tutorial but I do try to provide you with a clear guide on how to set up a site and avoid some common mistakes.

Disclaimers and Notes
These videos may contain inaccuracies about WordPress, WPMU DEV, the Membership plugin and computing in general. There, I said it. Please address all Membership support requests to WPMU DEV staff and developers. They are the experts! My apologies in advance to @Barry and others for any confusion I may cause through this tutorial.

LOL, I only posted this 5 minutes ago! I'm guessing you are commenting on the first video (the intro). You're right, the whole tutorial may be a little slow ... though I guess I erred on the side of taking my time. The intended audience is beginners and intermediates, so hopefully taking more time will pay off.

Wherever you think is best, by all means put it there. I want it to remain a resource which people can find. If you think it's worthy enough, maybe it can be linked to elsewhere (a sticky or whatever).

I definitely had the beginner in mind, or at least someone who needs help in getting a complex plugin like Membership set up. (Basically, I tried to create something that would have helped me when I was going through the process.) I think sometimes we forget how tricky set ups can be, and that the manual assumes the user understands certain things they might not. Membership is a wonderful plugin but it is especially problematic because one misstep can freeze your progress and even derail you quite a bit.

Anyhow, I hope it helps people and cuts down on the number of redundant support requests.

@aecnu Hiya Joe, any chance of making this a sticky? Otherwise, I think it will just get lost in obscurity. I definitely put a good amount of time into making it and I really do think it will be a good resource for those who invest the time to watch it. Perhaps the topic title could be renamed to "Beginner's Video Tutorial: How to ..." (we just add the word Beginner's.

Hi Mark,
The beginner’s membership videos were great in helping to answer a lot of questions I had. That said I also have a number of questions. The first of which are:
• Are you the person for me to fire more questions at about set-up?
• How do I get an idea of how many points to award you?
• Can new members be tagged into various groups?
• Can members personal details (first, last name and email address) be exported out of membership so I can communicate with them via one of the email marketing softwares like iconact.com.?

Best to start a new thread for any questions you have unless they relate directly to video (i.e. can you add this in there.. type thing).

• How do I get an idea of how many points to award you?

How many do you think this was worth?

You can only award what you own, currently I see you have 17 points.

• Can new members be tagged into various groups?

Do you mean BuddyPress groups?

That isn't currently possible, sorry.

Can members personal details (first, last name and email address) be exported out of membership so I can communicate with them via one of the email marketing softwares like iconact.com.?

If you take a look at our Membership manual there is an example on our ping feature. The example connects with MailChimp which is a similar thing. If iconact does the same thing with their API then it could be possible. You would need to ask them about their API support though.

Great @Mark! Very much appreciate you doing the vids. Still working my way thro them, but one quick question.

I thought it was the case that pretty permalinks can be anything - as long as they are not the Default WordPress format, By that I mean url?action=xxxxx and specifically called Default in the Permalinks Settings screen.

However you refer in the vid to the 'default' as being month and name and say not to use that. Does Membership really only work with Post Name as you mention in vid 1A?

Ok, learned a ton more than trying the plugin myself in the first 2 minutes of the video. As far as all the comments of "I personally don't need this.." Why'd ya click the link? It's labelled correctly. Ego points lost! XD LOL Herp Derp! I bookmarked and will be viewing ALL of these before I start to use the plugin for the first time. Excellent work so far! (points given) and a "Thank You."

Thanks to all for the praise and points - I'm glad you are finding the videos useful. Sorry for the delayed response, I have been on a vacation.

@Timothy Thanks for your forum support. @rcarey and @william_martin I hope that Timothy answered your questions. I was under the impression that pretty permalinks would prevent certain problems from occurring. I thought I had seen a support response from the developer indicating that pretty permalinks were recommended, but I can't recall what post that was. Perhaps @Barry can confirm?

How do you rate me?

Thank you for rating your experience!

We’re thrilled to hear you had a great experience with . Would you like to leave a comment about your experience:
Thanks for voting on your experience with , we’d love to get some feedback please.
Ohh no! We’re really sorry to hear you didn’t have a pleasant experience with , we’re always looking at how we can improve and would appreciate you provide some further feedback here please.

it's great that you had a positive one. Based on your experience in this ticket would you please be kind enough to rate us externally on: